(LifeSiteNews) — Speaking to Jacob Rees-Mogg of GB News on December 17, Cardinal Gerhard Müller made some strong comments on the state of Western countries today.
According to Müller, Jesus Christ would not only be condemned for being the Messiah, but also for his teaching on marriage as being between one man and one woman. The prelate responded to a comment by Rees-Mogg who said that it “seems Pope Francis has taken some challenging positions on ‘trans’ people.”
Müller’s remarks were given a day before Francis and Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández’s issued the December 18 document Fiducia Supplicans, which permitted clerics to “bless” “couples in irregular situations and same-sex couples.”
Pointing out that “pastoral concern for the salvation of every person” is the duty of any priest, bishop, and pope, Müller insisted in his reply that Christ gives everybody a “chance of conversion and a new beginning.”
“But Jesus also contradicts the ideologues who want to relativize or even destroy marriage of man and woman and the family of the parents with their own children,” he went on to say, adding, “I believe that today Jesus would not be condemned only because he is the Messiah, but he would in the USA and European countries go to prison because he spoke out the truth about marriage between a man and a woman.”
With these words, Müller reminded us of the saying of Jesus Christ that Christians will be persecuted for His sake.
Rees-Mogg went on to question the prelate about the papal treatment of both Bishop Joseph Strickland and Cardinal Raymond Burke. While Müller said he does not “know more about Bishop Strickland and Cardinal Burke than what is written in the newspapers,” “I can personally testify that both are devout Catholics and zealous pastors.”
“Burke is the most highly-qualified canonist in der College of Roman Cardinals,” Müller added, before remarking that the idea that Burke and Strickland are “enemies of the Pope” only shows “the unChristian spirit of the authors of such absurd accusations.”
On the contrary, the German prelate proposed a dignified dialogue with Burke and Strickland instead of treating them harshly. “Instead of taking drastic measures that only put the Church in the negative headlines,” Müller expounded, “I propose a respectful dialogue between men who, because of their episcopal ordination, are appointed by Christ Himself to be shepherds of His Church and to treat each other like brothers.” He called these conflicts “superfluous challenges and struggles.”
In his concluding remarks of the interview, Müller relayed a Christmas message for his audience. He first quoted Pope Leo the Great’s Christmas appeal which reads: “Christian, recognize your dignity and consider the price at which you were redeemed from the slavery of death, sin, depression and the prison of the meaninglessness of a life without God.” Then, commenting on these papal words, he urged everyone “to become aware of their own dignity and to place all their hope in life and death in the Little Child in the manger.”
“God does not come in the glory of power and money and renown, but in the humility of the Child, the Crucified Young Man on Calvary and in the light of the Risen Christ on Easter morning,” continued the cardinal. “In Christ we find the meaning and goal of our lives.”
